


Unexpected Reinforcements

by Virodeil



Series: Caught Is Caught Is Cuddled [31]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers (2012), Gen, Mama laufey, POV Tony Stark, Tony Stark Does What He Wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28915461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Virodeil/pseuds/Virodeil
Summary: Just as the Avengers and their allies are overwhelmed during the Battle of New York, what looks like a battalion of strange, exceptionally tall, androgynous-looking people literally swoops in to help. Nick Fury believes they have an ulterior motive, and yes they do, but the motive is… unexpected.“Are you for real, mom? Hemind-controlled peopleandinvaded our planetand you want to claim him as your child? You can do better than that, you know.”
Relationships: Laufey & Tony Stark, Laufey (Marvel) & Loki (Marvel), Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Jötnar (Marvel)
Series: Caught Is Caught Is Cuddled [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1089204
Comments: 12
Kudos: 119





	Unexpected Reinforcements

The battle for New York City is _not_ going well.

Tony can’t count how often he _barely_ avoids getting evaporated, pancaked or shot, forget getting out his own shots to thin the flood of the ugly creatures swarming this part of the city. Worse, his Iron Man suit’s arc reactor is now spent, so he’s using the one in his chest, but he can’t do it forever, or he’ll die by the old shrapnel eviscerating his heart instead of anything from outside.

So he squawks into the shared commlink, “Where’s SHIELD? We need reinforcements, you know!” even as he continues to weave back and forth high above the city in his increasingly battered and low-powered armour, evading the enemy fliers the best that he can while trying to score damages on the huge, ugly, horrible space snake-whales which are disgorging _even more_ enemy combatants.

“They’re chivvying the civilians with us, and preventing these creatures from getting out of range too,” Cap pipes in in-between panting breaths. “We don’t have one of those flying things to level the playing field with them in the air, and we know already the quinjet’s nothing against them, or I’ll send some along to you.”

“Make a note, J: We need flying jet skis ASAP,” Tony huffs, then grumbles, then lets out an involuntary squeak as one of the laser guns attached to a passing enemy flier grazes his left side, melting a few layers of the armour there. He manages to bring down the thing in retaliation, but _still_!

He does his best to punch a hole into the side of the latest space snake-whale emerging from the portal, and Hulk soon arrives to help punch the hole bigger. But even as they’re doing that, _yet another_ of the ugly thing is already peeking out of the portal.

“Damn it!” he squawks. “Where’s the friendly aliens when you need them?”

“At home, being comfy,” Agent Legolas snorts. “If you aren’t talking about Thor, that is.”

But even when the newly un-mind-controlled Robinhood says it, JARVIS reports fliers coming in from _outside_ of NYC, and not of the quinjet or suicidal commercial plane or air-force jet varieties.

In fact, judging from the image JARVIS sends him, the fliers – the _flying jet-ski-like_ things – look rather similar to those flown by the invaders, but… _not_.

For one, these look sleeker and more protected, more efficient, more effective, and all the deadlier for it, even if it’s hellishly strange, in that _both ends_ of the things contain both driving and gunning stations, and the human-like swimsuited folks driving them look _competent_.

They look intense, in any case, despite the _different-coloured swimsuits_ they’re wearing and their _bare feet_ and their _weaponless_ state but for the guns on their fliers.

“Fuck it,” Tony bursts out.

“What?” comes the squawk from Robinhood.

“Stark?” Agent Pretender chimes in, in tandem with Capcicle.

“We got a problem. JARVIS–.” But Tony doesn’t get to say anything more, because the fliers are already _there_ , and… shooting down the Chi’tauries?

“Uh, Legolas, seems like your friendly aliens are here, after all,” he finishes lamely, gawking in awe.

JARVIS has to move the suit away so that an enemy gun won’t take off Tony’s head. But _still_ , watching the new aliens is….

“Huh. Weird sexy guys in swimsuits going into battle,” he mutters to himself, as JARVIS shoots down the would-be head-taker, in tandem with one of the fliers, with the gunner being somebody in blood-red swimsuit.

“Focus, Stark!” Cap barks in his ear, and Tony would’ve winced in the suit if he could.

But Tony can’t give a comeback to the Capcicle, or gawk further, or get more hits on the Chi’tauries, because JARVIS interjects, “Loki has just materialised in the penthouse, Sir.”

He curses colourfully instead, as he banks sharply and makes a beeline to his tower, despite the squawks of outrage and protests of his so-called teammates. He wishes he could increase the flying speed of his suit – to at least match that of the new fliers’, at least – when JARVIS follows with, “Somebody else has joined Loki, Sir. Facial comparison shows seventy-six-point-fifty-six percent likeness to Loki’s, and voice comparison shows seventy-two-point-eighty-seven percent likeness. They are attired in the same bodysuit as the newcomers, and they claim that they are Loki’s mother, newly aware of their child’s existence.”

There’s no pause in JARVIS’ report, but he manages to convey flabbergasted shock nonetheless, and Tony curses all the more feelingly for this new information.

“ _STARK_!!!” Cap super-bellows into the earpiece, and Tony yowls in pain, accidentally _and quite unpleasantly_ finding that the sound dampener in his suit has been damaged through that ear-throbbing noise.

“Deafen me, will ya!” he snaps when he’s slightly recovered. “If you wanna know, I need to prevent Loki from doing anything to my tower and the damned Tessaract! Need to exchange this suit with a new one, too!”

“Get me up there, then,” Agent Pretender interjects, cool as cucumber. “You need backup. We need to disrupt the portal, too.”

“You think it only now?” Tony grumbles sarcastically. But he does swoop down and pluck Wonderwoman off the ground. The whinging would be too aweful to bear, otherwise.

“J, give me the footage of those two aliens,” he orders his AI, meanwhile.

In the next second, he curses colourfully _again_ , as six of the new fliers zip towards him and the Damsel-not-in-distress hanging on to him, not to attack but to surround them from all sides like an impromptu honour guard.

A _very effective_ honour guard, as the six flying dongle battle jet skis clear the path to the top of the tower in what feels like no time at all.

As if the new aliens _wanted them to intercede or witness_ what’s going on in the tower, or disable the portal, or…. Well, suffice to say, now Tony _really, really, really_ wishes he could communicate with at least the escorts, to find out _why_.

All the while, he watches via his HUD as the somewhat-one-sided verbal fight goes on in his penthouse near the bar between the persistent mum and… her?… insane wannabe king-of-the-world child. He feels quite like the peeping tom, as he figures it’s a private moment, but, well, Loki brought an alien army to conquer Earthgard, so it’s just payback, right?

He’s not pleased, though, when he begins to see the patterns the longer Loki spews off vitriols against… his mum? Well, _the other alien_ , in any case. Abandonment issue, Daddy issue, and, well, Tony’d rather _never_ admit it, but Loki sounds just like _him_ when whinging, sometimes, and Pepper _also_ claims he’s an overgrown child often enough. The only positive point Tony can boast and distinguish himself from that sod – the ones he can think of at the moment – is his lack of racism and sexism.

He’s not too pleased, either, when the escorts disembark on the same balcony that he uses for touchdown when in an Iron Man suit _and follow him and Agent Pretender inside_. Because, now that they are on level ground, he can see that they’re… _giants_ – terribly tall, at least, if not hunks of muscles like Rogers and Thor – and have this intimidating aura that’s subtler than Thor’s but somehow even sharper, more directed, _and they’re in his home_.

“Thank you for your help, but we don’t need it anymore,” he grumbles to the alien walking closest to him, who is garbed in light-blue swimsuit and as barefooted as the others, as he lifts the visor of his helmet.

“We are here with multiple purpose,” is the alien’s _unhelpful_ answer; without ever looking at him, at that.

He growls. “It’s _my_ home, and they’re _trespassing_.” He doesn’t know where he got the balls to challenge the aliens this way, but, well, he’s fed up with invaders tramping all over his place!

Preoccupied with his internal ranting, he nearly misses Agent Pretender slipping away and the alien next to him replying in the same level tone, _still_ without paying him any mind otherwise, “And your home will still be there when **Ðolukonnar** is finished with this business.”

“What business?” he persists. But they have arrived at the living room, now, and the mum and not-so-kiddy kid look away from each other to stare at them with matching expressions of _severe_ annoyance, and it seems to be detrimental on the alien’s wish – or even _ability_ , maybe – to speak.

` _Huh. Yeah. I **do** see the family resemblance, now. It’d be even better if the kid’s eyes were green instead of blue._`

And Tony blurts out _just that_.

The mum looks like a smugly satisfied and comfy cat, while Loki splutters in offence.

“What’s your business here, mom? Did these fine fellows come with you? We do appreciate the help, but we’d appreciate forewarning, too,” Tony soldiers on, disregarding Loki’s vitriols now aimed at him.

But he _definitely_ doesn’t appreciate Nick Fury snarling through the earpiece for him to get rid of the aliens from the vicinity of the Tessaract, because the said aliens _must_ have ulterior motives detrimental to Earth’s continuity and freedom. He can’t just disregard the noise, either, as it’s so _loud_ , therefore distracting.

“J, mute it,” he hisses into his mouthpiece, just as the mum – but _not_ a woman, or maybe not just a woman, because Tony can’t see boobs on their fetching-green-swimsuit-covered chest – answers him, their ees calm and feels like penetrating his soul:

“These and many outside are my people.” ` ** _Their_** _people?_ ` “We came here to retrieve my child, and aid you in the process, as the information that we got suggested that you were going to be beset by the Chi’tauri.” ` _What? How? From whom? I need to know!_ `

But the thing that he squawks in response is _not_ what he’s just planned to ask.

“Whoa! Are you for real, Mom? He _mind-controlled people_ and _invaded our planet_ and you want to claim him as your child? And you even brought your awesome air force _just_ to do that? You can do better than that, you know. Pick somebody else more grateful for all the effort.”

There would have been so many children who’d _queue for years_ to get such a gorgeous _and caring_ mum, including his own kiddy self.

The mum looks _highly displeased_ with his assertion, though, and Tony’s not being sarcastic with the word choice. They _were_ a tired and frazzled mum, and now they _are_ an offended monarch out for blood.

While her guards are _all_ round him.

And more are assisting Earthgardians to defend their lives and collective freedom, outside.

` _Uh-oh._ `

“No offence meant, Your Majestiness.” Tony even sketches a bow to highlight the point, though it’s wobbly given how exhausted he is and how damaged the suit is. “I just meant: Loki should be more grateful, he’s got a great mom like you, and I’m not trying to be flattering or whatever here.”

He doesn’t get to butter the queenly mum up more, though, as the badarse Russian chick he transported up here suddenly informs him through the left earpiece meant for communication line between the defenders, “Stark, we got a problem. The WSC sent a nuke to get rid off the Chi’tauri. I have managed to disrupt the shield, though. The portal is closing.”

“Why’d they send _a nuke_ if the portal’s _closing_?!” Tony blurts out, caught off guard and definitely panicked now, though for a different reason. “We got help already! There won’t be more Chi’tauri and we can handle the ones left here so _why_?”

“You should ask them… if you got the chance,” Agent Pretender sounds tense, now, and Tony doesn’t think it’s one of her pretend modes.

Nobody wants to die, after all.

And here, there’s a mum that’s yet to reconcile with their ungrateful kid.

A mum who brought an unlooked-for help to Earthgard _just so that they got time to reunite with their kid_.

Well, Tony’d give them time, he _will_.

But before that…, “Your Majestiness, what’s your name?”

And the mum, now gone utterly unreadable, answers simply in a soft but carrying tone, “Laufey Bergelmir-childe.”

Loki has been utterly silent and still since Tony gave those huge, scathing hints, and now he stares wide-eyed and slack-jawed at his mum, disbelieving and… touched?

Tony’d give _him_ time, too, even though he’s the one who began this disaster.

Loki’s _still_ got time to reconcile. Tony’s decades too late.

So, with a last bow, he lowers his helmet’s visor and goes back out of the door to the balcony, to intercept the nuke, to bring it through the closing portal.

To give a mum and their newly found, newly reconciled child _more time_.


End file.
